1
'There are people within the Lions bubble not double-jabbed'
Lions managing director Ben Calveley has admitted following a damaging day for the tour in South Africa that there were people in their tour party who weren’t double-jabbed. Wednesday night’s match versus the Sharks eventually went ahead following a day of concern which resulted in one player and one member of staff testing positive for Covid and twelve people being identified as close contacts – eight players and four staff members.
ADVERTISEMENT
This resulted in Warren Gatland having to reshape his team as eight of the chosen matchday 23 became unavailable – starters Ali Price, Dan Biggar, Liam Williams and Anthony Watson along with replacements Tadhg Beirne, Conor Murray, Stuart Hogg and Chris Harris.
Asked on Sky Sports at the stadium in Johannesburg about the immunisation status of the Lions party on the same day that Friday’s Springboks versus Georgia match was cancelled due to the virus, Calveley said: “Nearly all of the Lions tour party have been double-jabbed. There are people within the Lions bubble that haven’t been double-jabbed but the vast majority of people have been double-jabbed.
“We had one positive case in the camp this morning. That person had four close contacts so two of them were players, two of them were management. We immediately isolated everyone in the tour party and then both lateral flow and PCR tested everybody and those results came back negative apart from one single team positive.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we have isolated that one individual and all of his close contacts, but we then consulted with our medical advisory group that contains all of the relevant medical experts and their advice is that the fixture can proceed… we see it as a positive. We are showing that we can overcome all of the challenges that face us and we are determined that we can put a tour on for the players, for the fans and for all of our friends here in South Africa.”
What Gatland had to say in a pre-game TV interview following a day of tour chaos for the Lions #LionsRugby #CastleLionsSeries #LionsSA2021https://t.co/UJG0twDSOx
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 7, 2021
Asked about the general safety of the Lions squad, Lions boss Calveley continued: “We are in a secure, tightly controlled bubble environment but what is the case, and we have seen this in sport around the world, is that no bubble is entirely impenetrable. That is why we set up our medical advisory group so we can take advice from the experts on whether it is okay to proceed with matches like this and we are really pleased that they have said that it is okay.
“We just very calmly work through the challenges as they present themselves. We take things one step at a time. The focus today has been on making sure we can get this fixture over the line which we have.
ADVERTISEMENT
“We then turn our attention to the weekend and we know that the Bulls aren’t able to put a side out so we are working with the South African rugby union to see if we can find alternative opponents for Saturday or if we can’t, to see if we can rearrange that fixture for later in the tour. The approach is to stay calm, stay focused and take things one step at a time.
“The Test series is absolutely paramount. Our intention is to do everything we can to make sure we can get those games over the line in South Africa. We play the match tonight, we then move on and deal with Saturday, we then move on to Cape Town on Sunday and at the moment there is no intention to deviate from that agreed schedule.”
? BREAKING:
Huge changes to the matchday squad that was initially picked on Monday #LionsRugby #CastleLionsSeries #LionsSA2021https://t.co/E52vGfDAZU
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 7, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Beautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to comments